Hertha Berlin vs Eintracht Frankfurt
Bundesliga. Saturday December 8. KO 5.30pm. Live on BT Sports 3
LAST week's review threw up a few winners thankfully, although if I had more bottle a recommendation for Wolfsburg would have paid dividends. The fixture history and other stats did sort of point to the upset.
After having a go at Wolfsburg's Daniel Ginczek he promptly made one and scored one, after 1 goal in 11 games. Fair play to the lad, he did make me eat my words, and his team worked hard for the victory. Ah, hindsight, the punter's curse.
On to Saturday and Hertha Berlin sit 7th in the Bundesliga table, only three points behind Frankfurt in 5th after 13 games played. The home side have only lost one in the last six home fixtures, a 3-0 drubbing by Leipzig.
This was also a rare blank for them too as they possess a potent threat in the competitive veteran Vedad Ibesivic up front, who seems preferred this season over young German Davie Selke. They have failed to score only twice in the Bundesliga.
Salomon Kalou has had a few good seasons with Hertha now and midfielders such as Aussie Matt Leckie and the Slovakian Ondrej Duda are two other key players who can weigh in with a goal or two.
Frankfurt's front three of Jovic, Haller and Rebic didn't really fire last week, but Wolfsburg worked hard to contain the threat they pose. We saw it at times, with Jovic striking late to bring up the overs bet, and Rebic looking lively near the end, but their storming run was brought to a halt.
Last week I made a comment about three-man defences being vulnerable to three-man attacks, the reason being that once Frankfurt`s front three get loose 3 on 3 they take full advantage and run riot. A four-man defence and a wall of hard-working midfielders would at least make it difficult.
Hertha Berlin may set up in a similar way to Wolfsburg but their attacking options are a lot better, so overs and BTTS are definite options but prices reflect it.
Eintracht will be aiming to put the Wolfsburg result behind them and haven't failed to score in a league game this season, their last six going over 2.5 goals.
Hertha have a decent record in this fixture and will not be easy opponents to get past. Draws don't seem to feature much in this fixture, so could they cancel each other out?
The competitive nature of frontman Ibesevic was mentioned earlier, so the possibility of him and other team-mates such as Duda being carded is one that could materialise should Frankfurt retaliate to last week's result by proving their previous form was no fluke.
Recommended Bets
- Vedad Ibesevic (Hertha Berlin) Anytime Goalscorer 17/10 (888Sport)
- Over 2.5 goals 8/13 (888Sport)
- Draw 49/20 (888Sport)
- Correct score 2-2 10/1 (888Sport) to small stakes
that’s great